The family of Suleman Dawood and his dad Shahzada Dawood, two of the five victims of the Titan submersible tragedy, is sharing insight into the father-son duo's close relationship.
Their loved ones paid tribute to the 48-year-old businessman and his 19-year-old son, a business student at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland in a June 23 obituary. The tribute was published on Glasgow Live a day after the U.S. Coast Guard announced that their five-day search operation had turned up debris consistent with "a catastrophic implosion" of the Titan submersible.
Pieces of the craft's pressure chamber, including the nose cone and the front-end bell of the pressure hull, were found more than two miles beneath the surface of the ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, and about 1,600 feet away from the bow of the famous Titanic shipwreck—the explorers' destination.
The Dawood family's obituary read, "With profound sorrow, we mourn the tragic loss of Shahzada and his beloved son, Suleman, who had embarked on a journey to visit the remnants of the legendary Titanic in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean."
The tribute continued, "In this unfathomable tragedy, we try to find solace in the enduring legacy of humility and humanity that they have left behind and find comfort in the belief that they passed on to the next leg of their spiritual journey hand-in-hand, father and son."
The family said that "the relationship between Shahzada and Suleman was a joy to behold," adding, "They were each other's greatest supporters and cherished a shared passion for adventure and exploration of all the world had to offer them."
That wanderlust was just one aspect of the duo's close relationship. "This unwavering curiosity built the foundation for a close friendship between the two," the obituary continued, "and inspired those around them to develop a similar passion for learning. "By being as they were with one another, they embodied valuable lessons on the pursuit of knowledge, exploration of the unknown, and bonds of familial friendship. Family values are a guiding beacon for the Dawood family and Shahzada always strived to emulate these, teaching his children to do the same."
Despite that eagerness to explore, Suleman, who lived in London with his dad, mom Christine and sister Alina, was apparently reluctant to embark on the journey. Shahzada's sister Azmeh Dawood told NBC News June 22 that the teen had informed a relative that he "wasn't very up for" the expedition and felt "terrified" about it. She added that he ended up going because the trip fell over Father's Day weekend and he was eager to please his dad, who was "absolutely obsessed" with the Titanic from a young age.
The passengers of the Titan each paid $250,000 to OceanGate Expeditions for a place on the Titanic expedition. The Dawoods are among the wealthiest business families in Pakistan, where Shahzada was born. He served as vice chairman of Engro Corporation, headquartered in Karachi and was also a scion of his family's own business empire, Dawood Hercules Corp., NBC News reported.
"Shahzada was focused on extending the entrepreneurial legacy of the family with the setup of businesses in renewable energy and technology domains," the family's obituary read, "with an ardent belief that these would engender prosperity for thousands of Pakistani families."
Suleman had planned to follow in his dad's footsteps, according to the family. "His excitement to join Engro after he graduated could not be contained, culminating in an internship in the summer of 2022 to learn more about the organization that his family was such a passionate believer in," the obituary read. "Suleman is remembered fondly by Engro colleagues as a tall young man walking around with his beloved Rubik's cube and a smile on his face."
In addition to Shahzada and Suleman, the other victims of the tragedy were billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, 58, French oceanographer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and the submersible's pilot, Stockton Rush, the 61-year-old CEO of OceanGate Expeditions. See more information about them below: